There has been a rapid increase in gun-related deaths and injuries to private citizens, government officials and policemen in recent times. The policeman in particular is especially vulnerable to injury due to gun-related violence. This problem has become so prevalent that many areas of certain cities remain unprotected because police, fireman and other such officials are afraid to enter such areas.
Other than simply leaving such areas totally unprotected, some cities have approached the problem by requiring policemen, firemen and other such officials to wear bulletproof vests when entering such areas.
While the bulletproof vest does provide some protection, these vests must be quite heavy in order to provide protection to a wearer, especially in light of the high powered weapons now commonly possessed by street criminals.
Not only are such heavy vests expensive, such vests are generally cumbersome, hot, uncomfortable and difficult to clean. Most policemen can accept some of the problems, however, if he is encumbered and cannot move as rapidly or as freely as necessary, he may actually be endangered by the vest.
Still further, some situations do not require a wearer to be fully protected against a powerful weapon. Some situations may only require light protection. However, most known bulletproof vests are not adaptable to diverse situations. Such unadaptability further inhibits the full use of such protective clothing. Since each situation may differ from others, it is difficult to foresee exactly what type of protection will be needed or desired by the person who will be exposed to that situation. Since the present bulletproof vests are not adaptable, a wearer cannot fully exercise his own judgement in a given situation as to a balance between the amount of protection provided and other factors, such as freedom of movement, comfort, or the like.
Still further, some wearers and potential wearers are smaller than others, and the present bulletproof vests are not fully adaptable to different size wearers, especially for children. Since children should also be protected, the inability of such vests to adapt to different sizes and situations presents a serious drawback to the full use of bullet proof clothing. In the case of children, problems associated with the size inadaptability of present bulletproof clothing are exacerbated by the also-mentioned problems associated with the inhibiting nature of many such vests and the problems associated with cleaning such vests.
Therefore, there is a need for an article of clothing that will protect a wearer against gun-related injury or death, but which is adaptable to various situations and wearer sizes, and which can be expeditiously cleaned as well as being easy to wear while still providing as much protection as the wearer desires so the wearer can judge how much protection he wants in a given situation.